Hunter
by ElejahMikaelson
Summary: 'A person searching for something.'/'A person or animal that hunts.'
1. Chapter 1

After living for one thousand and thirty nine years, Elijah Mikaelson was hardly an amateur at spotting people who harbored any ill intent towards him. Such as one young woman who had been following him for the past three days, nine hours and…twenty-three minutes.

The coffee in his hand was searing hot, though he found he was not nearly adverse to pain as the humans that surrounded him. He had half considered buying a drink for the woman who was following him before dismissing the idea. He didn't think she knew that he was aware of her following him, and he would prefer to keep it that way.

So, instead, he left the quaint little café with only his drink in hand and continued his leisurely stroll through the small town of Mystic Falls. He did wonder what the girl following him was planning on doing when he let her make her move.

Even if she did manage to overpower him (highly unlikely), unless she knew who he was (improbable), the worst she could do to him was to immobilize him for several short hours. He doubted she even knew who the Originals were. It was rare to hear of his family and he in the vampire community any more, let alone in the hunter's.

Elijah took his first mouthful of coffee as he entered the apartment complex he was staying in. His visit hadn't been planned, and so he had to deal with the only temporary housing the small town had to offer, not owning a residence close enough to the town.

The irony of his situation didn't fail to escape him.

He had gone to a town to deal with several rogue vampires and now _he_ was the one being hunted. Although, he supposed, it would always be that way for his kind. Even the ones who tried to be good would forever be hunted, simply for existing.

Which was why he had to make the effort to clean up and dispose of vampires who had no sense of discretion. Because, despite the fact that it was impossible to kill him, he really did not like being followed and hunted by amateurs who had no idea who they were dealing with.

Elijah's apartment was cold when he entered it. Although it had no real effect on him, he turned up the thermostat, sipping at the coffee in his hand. His next stop was to check his e-mail to see if his contacts had managed to gather any information on, either, the woman following him, or the vampires he was there to control.

Before the page could load, there was a knock at Elijah's door and he took another mouthful of his coffee as he walked to the door. Opening it, he found no one there and was instantly on guard, the small hairs on the back of his neck rising. There was tiny note stuck to the wall opposite his door and, after looking ether way down the hall, he stepped across to read it.

 _Hello._

Elijah frowned and pulled the post-it from the wall. The hunter. He scoffed and walked back into his apartment, crumpling the post-it and tossing it in the trashcan, locking his door and sliding the bolt across.

"You know," he started, "if you wanted to come into my apartment, all you had to do was ask." Elijah taunted, taking another mouthful of his coffee.

He could hear her heartbeat, thrumming like a mockingbird's. Of course, if he really wanted to, he could find her in one of those heartbeats. But, he didn't want to, he was curious about what her move was going to be. Surely she was aware of the odds, especially now that she had lost any element of surprise.

"I'll admit," he continued, "I wasn't expecting you to be so blasé as to waltz into my home. While I was _at the door_ nonetheless."

He heard her heart speed up and smirked to himself, taking another sip of his coffee before putting down the cardboard cup and slipping off his suit jacket, hanging it on the coat rack. Walking back to his computer, he looked over the e-mail hadn't a chance to read before her distraction and smirked to himself, undoing his cufflinks and rolling up his shirt sleeves.

"It's Elena, isn't it?" Elijah called, hearing her soft curse, he knew she wasn't expecting him to have even noticed her, let alone to know her name. "Well, Elena, why don't you come on out and spare yourself some embarrassment?"

He heard her scoff and smirked to himself, of course he wasn't actually expecting her to take his offer, he was simply curious about her reaction. The sound of a trigger being pulled, though, was unexpected…as was the searing pain that shot through his abdomen as a wooden stake embedded itself there.

Elijah let out an involuntary gasp, though whether the pain or the shock was the cause, he wasn't sure. The shock was his guess, he was mostly numb to the pain after the initial strike.

He didn't think she could shock him anymore than that, but, alas, she did, coming at him from behind with a stake, its target his heart.

Elijah deflected the attack easily enough, allowing her to fight with him for a few minutes, curious about her abilities. She had some skill, but, if he had wanted to kill her, he would have been able to do so without any real struggle, not that that meant much where he was concerned.

After a few moments of fending off her attacks, Elijah grew tired of the repetitive motions and pinned the brunette to the wall, taking the stake from her hand and crushing it in the palm of his hand. Her eyes widened and he smirked at her, pulling the other stake from his stomach and tossing it aside nonchalantly.

"You know, I really liked this shirt."

Only then did she begin to struggle, realizing that she was way out of her depth. Elijah put a stop to it quickly and looked into her eyes, compelling her. "Stop struggling." He hissed.

Elena scoffed. "I'm on vervain, you can't compel me."

Despite the confidence of her words, Elijah could hear the tremor of nervousness hiding behind them and smirked darkly. "I assure you, that's no problem."

He pressed his fingers to a pressure point on Elena's neck, sending her world into darkness and holding her up as she slumped forward, her head lolling onto his shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

Elijah sighed as he secured the chain around the unconscious girl's wrist. Holding an amateur hunter in the spare bedroom of one of his houses until the vervain left her system was not how he wanted to spend his weekend. All he had wanted to do was dispose of the troublesome vampires and get the hell of out Hicksville, Virginia, maybe even take a break from the States completely. And now he was stuck with detoxing and compelling an insignificant, human girl who had tried to kill him.

He quickly checked to see if she had any vervain on her, removing a small bracelet that stung his fingers when he ran them over it, admiring the small snowflake charm.

 _Three days._ He thought to himself. _Four at the most, and I can compel the girl to forget hunting and to be on her merry way._ Not that he was sure why he wasn't just killing her.

In the early hours of the morning, Elijah finally heard the slow heartbeat of the unconscious Elena speed up ever so slightly, indicating her imminent awakening, and straightened in the chair he was sat in. Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks and she let out a soft noise as she woke. And, for those few seconds, she was calm, almost content, as she re-entered the land of the awake. Before she remembered what was happening that is…and then she panicked. The set of her shoulders stiffening and the muscle in her jaw ticking as she clenched it.

"Good evening." Elijah greeted, drawing her eyes over to him.

She scoffed. "So what? You're gonna torture me before you kill me?" She asked, rattling the chain connected to her wrist.

Elijah winced ever-so-slightly and grit his teeth. "I'm _not_ going to kill you."

"You expect me to believe that?" Elena scoffed. "You're a vampire, a parasite, it's what you do!" She yelled, pulling at the cuff on her wrist.

Elijah nodded slowly. "If that's what you believe." He murmured, standing up and clearing his throat. "You will be staying here until the vervain passes from your system, at which point I will compel you to forget hunting and me and to leave." He explained clearly, walking to the door. "If you need anything then call; I'll hear you."

"You can't do this to me!" Elena yelled as he left the room, closing the door quietly. "Oi! You asshole! _You can't do this to me!_ " She screamed, yanking at the chain. "You hear me? You can't do this!"

Elijah let out a low breath, leaning against the closed door. It had been a very long time since he had let someone talk to him like that and keep their heart in their chest, or their head on their shoulders.

After a few moments of listening to the girl scream from behind the door, Elijah let out another sigh and moved away, finally descending his staircase as he had initially intended.

The drive to his house in Charlottesville had been two and a half hours of worrying that the girl would wake up and he would have to deal with a screaming hunter, either, on the side of the road, or in the trunk all the way to his residence. Thankfully though, that hadn't been the case and he had had more than enough time to secure the girl in one of his spare rooms. Adding an eyebolt, (hidden behind the headboard so that she couldn't get to it) chain and securing a cuff to it, then around her wrist, as well as removing all trace of vervain carried on the girl.

Looking at the, unsurprisingly, bare state of his cupboard and refrigerator, he decided with a sigh that he would have to send someone to buy food. He supposed the girl would need clothes and hygiene products…hell! Who was he kidding? Elijah had no clue what he was doing. He tried not to make a habit of kidnapping humans unless absolutely necessary. Even then, they died soon enough after, or were being tortured long enough that he found they didn't really care about that sort of thing.

 **~~O~~**

Several hours, and one of his more modernly adept people (women) later, he was debating asking the girl if she had a preference or just making her something and her having to deal with it.

Eventually he let out a sound of frustration and rolled his sleeves back from where he had rolled them while debating whether or not to make food. Why was he being so foolish? He was Elijah Mikaelson. The oldest vampire in existence. He didn't make food for human girls!

With that thought held fast in his mind, Elijah climbed the winding staircase and walked into the girl's room, finding her frozen in her attempt to get the handcuff off of her wrist. Elijah took a key from his pocket and held it up. "Perhaps this would help?" He murmured dryly.

The brunette glared at him, her eyes narrowing into near slits. "Did you expect me to just sit here?" She snapped, defensive, but still scared.

"Of course not." Elijah replied, good-naturedly. "That is why I took precautions. These are a very special, very old, pair of handcuffs that I procured sometime in the fifteenth century. They are spelled, so that, no matter how good your lock-picking is, you cannot free yourself without this key."

The girl continued to glare and Elijah smirked at her, walking to her side and taking her wrists, tightening the hold he had on them when she tried to squirm away. He unlocked the cuffs and slipped the key back into his pocket, ignoring her wide-eyed stare.

Grasping her upper arm, Elijah pulled her from the bed and out of the room. He led her down to the kitchen and sat her on one of the stools for a moment.

"Get yourself something to eat and drink." He ordered, taking all of the sharp knives and instruments out of their respective drawers and placing them in a plain, black bag, ready to be either thrown out or stored, he couldn't really care less. "Know this, any attempt at an escape is futile. You will not be leaving this house until I, and I alone, allow you to. Do we understand each other?" He asked, turning back to the girl.

She nodded slowly with wide eyes.

"Excellent. You have one hour to do what you need." Elijah said, turning briskly and leaving the room, not shutting the door behind him. He handed the bag off to one of his people, knowing they would sort it out and then disappear as he wanted them to.

Elijah couldn't help but wonder how long it would take her to attempt her first escape. He had no illusions about her staying put. He knew that, given an opening, she would take it. She wasn't going to want to stay any longer than she had to. He was banking on that.

It was obvious that she still didn't take him as seriously as she should. If he had his way, and he would, that would soon change. She had no idea what he was capable of.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hiiiiiiiiiii, sorry I've been so MIA, life happened and I just fell out of step with my writing in here, I'm going to try to publish some more of my current stories but this is just where I decided to start.**_

 _ **(As always, I own none of these characters, just the plotline is mine (: )**_

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Elijah glanced at the watch on his wrist with a sigh. She'd been alone for forty-five minutes and he hadn't heard her try anything yet. He had been positive she wouldn't last even ten minutes alone, yet her time was three quarters of the way through and she hadn't tried anything yet.

For once in his long life he didn't understand someone's actions.

For instance, why had the girl been following him in the first place? Why hadn't she just attacked him when she identified him as a vampire? Had she been waiting to see if he would lead her to anyone else? If so, she had been following him for over three days before finally making her move…why? What could she possibly stand to gain from following him for a couple of days without doing anything?

Elijah huffed in frustration, he absolutely hated not knowing what people were planning.

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With five minutes left she still hadn't made a move to escape and Elijah's brow furrowed slightly, but he continued to sign papers and read reports until his watch informed him that she had been left alone for an hour and he appeared in the kitchen doorway, surprised to see the girl sitting at the counter calmly, with no evidence that she had even moved.

"Did you do everything you needed?" Elijah asked coolly, his aloof mask firmly in place.

Elena nodded slowly. "In here at least." She murmured, making Elijah raise an eyebrow. "I'm assuming there's a bathroom somewhere in this house?"

Elijah quirked a brow at her tone, but nodded, opening the door and gesturing for her to leave the kitchen.

The brunette stared at the vampire in front of her for a moment before standing and moving away from the island, following Elijah up the stairs when he moved.

"Why are you doing this? Keeping me here? Letting me make my own food, buying me clothes? What are you trying to achieve?" She elaborated when the vampire she was following didn't reply. "What do you want from me?" Elena persisted, her tone becoming abruptly harsh with frustration. She huffed when the vampire suddenly ceased walking, causing her to nearly bang into him.

"You'll find the restroom through this door." Elijah gestured, noting the hunter's irritation with him and finding it rather amusing overall, she was a rather petite thing, with pretty doe eyes, she didn't look like she could hurt a fly. Yet here she was, a hunter, it was really quite an entertaining juxtaposition for him, especially when she tried to act threatening.

He withheld his amused smile as she rolled her eyes and let out another huff until after she had entered the bathroom and, while the thought of refusing her being allowed to lock the door did cross his mind, allowed her a modicum of trust on the basis that she had thus far seemed uninclined to directly act out against him.

Sure enough, she emerged several minutes later in much the same state as she had entered although she seemed less agitated, with him or with the situation he couldn't tell.

"Is there anything else you require?" Elijah asked, satisfied when she replied in favour of being done; and turned to lead her back to the room she had woken up in.

"You don't have to do this." She protested when she realised that he was leading her back to her shackles. "Please, you don't have to keep me here, you can let me go, I can't hurt you, I know that now."

Elijah shook his head, his hand snaking out with his enhanced speed to grab her wrist before she could move it away. "I can't let you leave, and I cant trust you to remain loose in this house, after all, you were stalking me for three days with the intention of killing me, no?"

Elena's instinct to protest died at his truth and he felt her relax against his grip in defeat, allowing herself to be pulled towards the bed and her shackles. "Please." She let out her plea as little more than a whisper, accepting how bad of a situation she'd gotten herself into. "Please, you don't have to."

Elijah encased her wrists in the cuffs and sighed. "It won't be for long, Elena, I promise, and then you won't remember a thing."

Something in that sentence broke her, and whether it was the reminder that he knew far more than she, or the reminder that she was truly vulnerable; anything could happen and she would soon have no idea, Elijah could hear the beginnings of her crying, which lasted throughout most of the night.

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Come morning, Elijah entered the room to find Elena sat up against the headboard, her knees drawn to her chest and her eyes red and puffy from crying so much. She darted to attention upon his entrance, but quickly deemed that he wasn't an immediate enough risk to merit continued attention; even if he hadn't been able to hear her throughout the night, he would've been able to tell that she hadn't slept.

"Come," he said softly, moving over to her and unlocking the cuffs around her wrists, "you should have something to eat."

"Why do you care?" Elena muttered, her voice hoarse from the long hours of crying.

"Contrary to what you believe, Elena, I didn't bring you here to torture you, nor to kill you; there's no point in leaving you to starve is there?"

"Please stop calling me that." She murmured, standing from the bed to follow him out of the room; meeting his eyes when he faced her and raised an eyebrow.

"Stop calling you what? Elena? Isn't that your name?" He asked, genuine confusion colouring his voice.

"Yes," Elena conceded, "but its creepy that you know my name and I know nothing about you."

A small smile curved the corners of Elijah's lips and he nodded, accepting her point. "Well, why don't you come down and we can get you some breakfast and we can talk about the situation we're in?"

At her nod, Elijah turned to lead the dishevelled girl back down to the kitchen where she had been yesterday.

"You'll be familiar enough with this room, go ahead and make yourself something. I have…my own breakfast to acquire, shall we say." He quirked his lips and turned to leave the room, but her voice made him stop in the doorway.

"You're going to kill someone."

It wasn't a question, it was a mere assumption, and Elijah could tell that this girl really did believe that he was a needless murderer; that he would go out and drain a random person to suit his needs. A frown furrowed his brow and he turned back to look at her, wondering what had happened to her that she would become a hunter and think this darkly of all vampires when he had been relatively kind to her.

"No, I'm not." He replied with a small shake of his head, offering no more than that for a reply as he left her to her own devices in the kitchen, to a degree; he didn't stray out of hearing range, although, for him, that was quite a way.

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 _ **Sorry its a bit short, but its something lol, I hope you guys like it :)**_

 _ **\- Izzy x**_


	4. Chapter 4

When Elijah returned to the kitchen, the young girl was sat silently at the table, her hands clasped on the white wood in front of her and her head bowed, her brunette locks covering her face. He sat opposite her and folded his hands under his chin, waiting for her to initiate the conversation.

"I- how can you…eat without killing someone?"

The question had obviously been playing on her mind, yet she was still staring at the table and Elijah sighed, taking one of his hands and running it through his hair slightly as he thought about the best way to phrase his answer.

"Taking blood directly from an unwilling human is by far not the only means of acquiring what we need to survive."

"But you need blood to survive?"

"Yes." Elijah replied.

"I don't understand." Elena confessed, finally looking up at him with a furrowed brow. "How can you get blood to survive if you don't take it from people? If you don't kill them?"

"Even if someone like myself were to take blood from a human, they wouldn't _need_ to kill them to survive. Vampires can feed from humans without killing them, many do, and there are humans who volunteer themselves." Elijah explained, watching the genuine confusion on the brunettes face with genuine curiosity, this hunter really didn't know much about them.

"People volunteer?" She murmured, more to herself than to him. "Is that what you do, drink from people and then…compel them to forget?"

"Sometimes." Elijah admitted. "If I'm desperate. Most of the time, I use blood from blood banks. Never enough that it would be missed, of course."

"Why?" Elena asked, frowning. "You're clearly powerful, why wouldn't you just kill people?"

Elijah sat up straight, clearing his throat slightly. "Not all of us chose this life, Elena, in fact most of us didn't choose this. Besides, killing raises more attention than necessary, why do you think I'm here?"

Elena shrugged slightly, not understanding his point.

"I came to clean up a mess, another vampire getting to bold and reckless for his own good, or that of anyone elses."

Her eyes widened slightly and Elijah chuckled, standing from the table and collecting a glass of water for himself and Elena.

"Now that we've cleared that up," he murmured, sitting back down and placing the glasses down, "I believe you had more questions for me than just querying my feeding habits.

"Who are you?" She asked, sitting up straighter as he allowed her to take control of the conversation. "Why haven't you just killed me?"

"My name is Elijah Mikaelson, and I haven't killed you because I don't need to."

"Because you're going to compel me." Elena recalled what he'd told her before. "Why?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly.

Surprisingly, Elijah felt sorry for the girl, she must have been nineteen at the most and she was far too deep in a life that she didn't understand. "This is no life for anyone. How old are you, Elena?" He asked after a brief pause."

"Eighteen."

Elijah smiled slightly. "You're about the same age my sister was when she was turned. For centuries, I watched her struggle with who we'd become; who she'd become and what she had lost. You have a choice in this life, Elena, and you don't deserve to live the one you're in now."

"What happened to her? Your sister?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Elijah murmured, the wistful smile falling from his face. "The last I heard, she was with one of my brothers."

"How old are you?" Elena asked after a relatively lengthy pause, trying to change the subject.

Elijah chuckled slightly, surprised at the girl yet again. "I'm honestly not sure, though one could certainly argue that I'm too old."

Elena smiled at that slightly, though she ducked her head slightly in an attempt to hide it from him. She was endearing, even he had to admit that, though there was something he couldn't quite figure out about her. He'd spoken more truth to her in the last ten minutes than he had to anyone else in the last century, granted, he didn't suppose it mattered, he was going to compel her to forget all of this anyway. He had to.

"Elijah." She murmured, using his newly learned name for the first time. "You don't have to compel me. You can just let me go, I won't come back. You said I have a choice to be in this life, please don't take that away from me."

Without realising, she had leant over the table and laid her hands over his while she was talking. When he glanced down, she quickly withdrew her hands and placed them in her lap.

"Please, Eli-"

"No." He interrupted. "I have made my decision, I am not going to let another innocent be corrupted by my fa-" stopping abruptly, he cleared his throat before continuing, "by _this_ life."

She went to protest again, and Elijah stood from his chair, glaring at her; causing the petite girl to shrink back into her chair.

"My mind is made up and you _will not_ change it, Elena." He hissed, turning and leaving the room swiftly, ignoring the sound of Elena beginning to cry behind him.

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Elijah had heard Elena run back to the room he'd been keeping her in rather quickly after his outburst. It had been three hours and she hadn't left again; he'd been in his study and currently held a tumbler of whiskey in his hand. He had no idea why he'd lost his temper so profusely, and, surprisingly, he felt kind of bad about it. The girl was clearly upset, and he wasn't helping at all. It was his fault though, he could admit that at least, he had abducted her in the first place.

It was for her benefit though, surely she could see that? He was trying to help her. This was no life for anyone, especially someone like her. Another doppelganger, he didn't think it was possible, but there she was; he couldn't let another life be destroyed by his family because of it. She was so innocent, so kind, how could he allow her to live the life he'd been sentenced to for over a millennium? He couldn't, besides, she knew too much, she had to forget. Didn't she?

Elijah sighed, knocking back the whiskey he held and putting the glass down on his desk. He had to at least talk to her.

"Elena." He murmured, knocking on her door lightly. He couldn't hear her crying anymore, and she wasn't answering him. Maybe she'd fallen asleep? "Elena?" He asked again, sighing and resting his head on the door frame. "Elena, I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't have lost my temper like that, I'm so sorry." She still didn't reply, but something felt off. "Elena, can we please talk?"

Suddenly he realised what was wrong, he couldn't hear her heartbeat. "Elena." He demanded, more urgently trying to open her door, growling when he realised it was locked. "Elena!"

Cursing under his breath, Elijah forced the door open, instantly noticing that the doppelganger wasn't in the room at all and the window was open. In a split-second, Elijah was out of the window, standing on the lawn. He could just about pick up the sound of footsteps pounding to his right, she must have been running for well over an hour Elijah mused, following the sound. How hadn't he noticed?

After a few minutes, Elijah couldn't hear Elena running anymore and furrowed his brow in confusion. There was no way he could have lost her.

When he caught up to where she'd been, there was nothing. No more tracks in the dirt; no sound of footsteps. Elijah sighed, focussing his senses on the area around him, picking up on the smell of blood, and an extremely faint heartbeat. It was coming from his left, at the bottom of a hill.

"Shit." Elijah muttered upon seeing the tangled, bloodied body of Elena Gilbert lying at the bottom. Her heartbeat was so faint he was surprised she still had one. He had hold of her and had assessed her injuries in a second. Deeming it a situation requiring his blood, his bit open his wrist and pressed it to her mouth, urging her to drink.

"Come on, Elena, please, I'm so sorry."


End file.
